“There were more songs associated with World War I than any other war,” says Lasser.

Writers of that era wrote what they knew. They used syncopated tunes that were adopted from African-Americans, conversational lyrics that sounded like the language of speech, and they wrote about love.

“You can write a popular song about anything, but if you can’t write a popular song about love, you aren’t a songwriter,” says Lasser.

Songs like “I Didn’t Raise My Boy to be a Soldier” were popular in the U.S. at the beginning of the war in Europe before the United States got involved representing the isolationist thoughts of the average citizen.

When the U.S. entered the war, there were two types of popular songs – expressions of the fighting spirit and the songs that portrayed it as a joke. As the war went on, marshal songs and comedic songs ruled the charts. When the soldiers were returning, songs about how they would adjust came to the fore.

“Nothing gives us a better mirror on what ordinary people were thinking and feeling than the songs they chose to sing,” says Lasser.